Maria W.

My friend sells SeneGence and mentioned the face wash that completely changed her skin for the better. She sent me samples and I ended up with a chemical burn all over my face that lasted two weeks. It looked as though I had a horrible sunburn - in the middle of winter - and my skin was too irritated to put ANYTHING on it to help it.

That should have been a lesson learned but she said she felt bad and promised to give me a discount if I purchased anything. I said I would put $30.00 toward a "snag bag" (a holiday "game" of sorts where you say how much you are willing to pay and receive a surprise package of products). $30.00 + $6.00 in shipping and I was the new owner of a black mascara! That was fine because I needed mascara. (I normally use Falsies by, I think Maybelline - purple tube, awesome stuff). On my first application, I noticed that my lashes were spreading in awkward angles instead of being pulled straight with a lifted curl at the ends. It also seemed much clumpier than I was used to. I used the product periodically over the past two months and began to notice fibers in the tube and falling off my lashes - in addition to my lashes breaking off and falling out. I used to have long, thick lashes... not so much anymore. Last night, one of the fibers fell into my eye and I couldn't get it out. By morning, my eye was red and irritated. (Still is.) I contacted Senegence and they said there are no fibers in their mascara - I sent photos of the fibers and will be sending my product back for a refund.

I played one of the in-group games on Facebook and won Lipsense. I was super excited about this, as I am a major lip gloss/tint junkie! I love them! I normally use Hard Candy from Walmart but thought I would give Lipsense a go, especially since it was free. I did my research this time, considering the bad reactions to the face wash and now the mascara. I read that the Lipsense might burn a bit so I tested it on my hand. Yep, it burned. Not so much that I felt I was dying but enough to get my attention. I ignored the wise advice of my boyfriend to not put it on my lips and applied it anyway. Immediately, my lips began to burn - similar to how my face felt after the face wash. Once it dried, within 30 seconds, I could barely move my lips. They felt instantly dried out and extremely irritated. I wiped the product off with a baby wipe and immediately applied Carmex. All day long, I applied more and more, as my lips felt like they couldn't get enough moisture. Within 2 - 3 days, my lips were peeling and I had acne forming near my lips.

In short, it is extremely expensive and not something I would ever trust on my skin, even if I received a big box of it for free. These products are scary irritating and I'm concerned could cause real harm to people's skin (and eyes).